Troy Loney wrote:I didn't mean to imply the depression was a consequence of that, i was insinuating that a roll back from the free flow of money would wreck the economy...leading to a depression of that level.

Having learned the ins-and-outs of making a great Latte, Espresso, and other Coffee drinks, it's hard to think that a machine could produce the same quality as a excellently trained Barista, (think Martinis mixed by a machine instead of your favorite bartender), but it was bound to happen eventually anyway.

At least a machina wouldn't correct you about your pronunciation of "Venti" or snidely correct you that a drink made with half and half is a Breve.

Gaucho wrote:That's what happens when people are unwilling to pay for quality.

I was in a hotel elevator once when a "working woman" said something similiar to a guy who was riding the elevator with his wife. The high end escort then got off the elevator and I was stuck going another 20 floors wih the couple while the wife just berated the man unelentlessly. From what I could gather, he'd been there for a convention all week and the wife had just flown in for the weekend.

Factorial wrote:If nothing else, this shows there is consensus for raising the minimum wage.

cmon man, using a washpost/abc poll at face value without delving into any of the specifics? Polls on issues are pure garbage. I tried to get into that poll to read some specifics, got redirected to their main site.

I mean - I could conduct a poll, and ask "Would you pay $22 for a Whopper with fries if it mean the government would do more and raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour?", and I'd get a whole different set of results.

The American middle class, long the most affluent in the world, has lost that distinction.

While the wealthiest Americans are outpacing many of their global peers, a New York Times analysis shows that across the lower- and middle-income tiers, citizens of other advanced countries have received considerably larger raises over the last three decades.

After-tax middle-class incomes in Canada — substantially behind in 2000 — now appear to be higher than in the United States.

The American middle class, long the most affluent in the world, has lost that distinction.

While the wealthiest Americans are outpacing many of their global peers, a New York Times analysis shows that across the lower- and middle-income tiers, citizens of other advanced countries have received considerably larger raises over the last three decades.

After-tax middle-class incomes in Canada — substantially behind in 2000 — now appear to be higher than in the United States.

"Income inequality" is such a stupid term. The implication is that all people should have the same, which is classic social engineering wet dream nonsense.

It's well-established that US income inequality increased dramatically over the two decades prior to the 2008 crash. Here's a snapshot of the share of national income going to the top 10% of income earners from the famous Piketty/Saez historical study of the American income distribution